Finally Mark and I were able to take some vacation and see a bit more of Adelaide. It started two weekends ago when we packed up the Getz and started driving toward Melbourne. There are a few routes to get to Melbourne and we chose the longest, which goes along the Great Ocean Road. Built after World War Two to give the returning soldiers a job. It would take a normal person about two days to drive from Adelaide to Melbourne on this route.
Its a good thing we aren't normal, because it took us about 5 days. We stopped to see everything, which included the giant lobster. We did a lot of car camping and cooking on our tiny gas camping stove (although the food was restaurant quality). The first night was in Robe (still in South Australia). The ocean was within walking distance and there were some wombats close by (I got a picture of one running away). In Robe we attempted to take the Getz 4 wheeling, but as it was the first day, decided it would be best not to break the car yet.
The second night we stopped at Port Campbell (now in Victoria and on the Great Ocean Road). The stars were so bright that night, we just laid on our little hill near by and made up all the constellations (as there is no big dipper on this side of the world). The next day was a big tourist day. The road is on the limestone coast which has wonderful rock formations. Well the formations are all named and big lookout points. So we stopped at each to get our pictures and marvel at the views. There is the arch, the london bridge and the 12 apostles are the most common.
This got us down to Otway National Park. We found a site and did a bit of touring in the park. Mainly saw the oldest lighthouse in Australia which warned the ships that they were close to land. Back in the day this would be the first thing people saw when sailing from Europe. Well it rained all day and we couldn't get a fire started. Ate dinner in the car and make it an early night. The nice part was that there were koalas everywhere. One right above our tent, which I named Fred.
The next day we headed north though the national park and stopped by the red sequoya forest. This is the first thing I've seen that reminds me of home and our mountains (so it was nice to visit). We then headed to the rain-forest and walked up top on large bridges along the canopy. Really nice, but for someone scared of heights kind of nerve racking as well. Afterward, we headed toward Melbourne and got to Apollo Bay.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of camping around, so we just backtracked and camped at a place called Blanket bay in the Otway National Park for another night. This time we were in rock throwing distance to the ocean and could hear the waves. Well this night was the rainiest of all and a lit creepy for me. But when we woke up made some breakfast by the beach and headed to Melbourne.
I've posted all the pictures of our camping time - check them out on fliker.
No comments:
Post a Comment